UPDATE: Martin Scorsese Lends Name To Amnesty International Protest Of Prison Sentences For Iranian Filmmakers

UPDATE: Martin Scorsese, who spoke out in support of Jafar Panahi both when he was first arrested and right after he was convicted, has added his support to the petition being circulated by Amnesty International. His participation is reflected in the amended release below.

EARLIER: Amnesty International has gotten involved in protesting the 6-year prison sentence given to Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof. As Deadline revealed last week, the human rights advocate has enlisted Paul Haggis, Sean Penn and Harvey Weinstein to spearhead the petition effort meant to create international pressure as the filmmakers prepare their appeal. Here’s the formal announcement:

Both Panahi and his artistic collaborator, Mohammad Rasoulof, have been given six-year prison sentences after being convicted of “propaganda against the state.” Panahi was also sentenced with a twenty-year total ban on artistic activities. The Hollywood greats have signed a petition, which Boniadi initiated with AIUSA, to urge Iranian authorities to overturn Panahi’s sentence –and encouraged others to go to http://www.amnestyusa.org to do the same.

“As someone who has often gotten in trouble for opening his mouth, it is hard to fathom the idea of being incarcerated for six years simply for speaking my mind, or to be banned from making films for 20 years,” said Haggis, who is best known for becoming the first screenwriter to write two Best Film Oscar winners back-to-back: “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash.”

Haggis, the founder of Artists for Peace and Justice, added, “If this happened to me, I would hope my colleagues would speak out in my name, as we are compelled to speak out in Jafar’s. I urge the Iranian authorities to overturn Mr. Panahi’s inhumane and unjust sentence. I ask that people across the world join Sean Penn, Martin Scorsese, Harvey Weinstein and myself in signing the Amnesty International petition calling for the immediate reversal of the sentence against Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof.”

Haggis has initiated a white ribbon campaign—urging actors, producers, writers and directors to wear white ribbons during public appearances, to protest the travesty of justice inflicted on his colleagues. Haggis highlighted the campaign and petition at a press conference today at the Capri Hollywood Film Festival, where he is receiving a humanitarian award.

“The persecution that Panahi and Rasaulof are experiencing simply shouldn’t exist in this day and age,” said Larry Cox, executive director of AIUSA. “Their cases, and the campaign waged by Boniadi, Haggis, Penn, Scorsese, Weinstein and others, are emblematic of the work that Amnesty International has tackled head-on over its 50-year history. We are honored and grateful to have their support as we fight for Panahi and Rasaulof’s freedom.”

Prominent Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf and legendary Iranian pop singer Googoosh have also signed the Amnesty International petition.

Also involved in the campaign is Iranian-American journalist and former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience Roxana Saberi, who was once held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison on trumped-up charges of espionage. She was freed after Amnesty International and other organizations rallied for her unconditional release. Since then, she has been calling for the release of other prisoners of conscience in Iran.

Jafar Panahi is the director of such masterpieces of Iranian cinema as “Badkonake Sefid” (White Balloon), “Dayareh” (Circle), for which he won the Golden Lion at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, “Talayeh Sorkh” (Crimson Gold), and “Offside.” Although invited to be a judge at the May 2010 Cannes International Film Festival, he was not able to attend as he was in detention in Evin Prison in Tehran. His absence was marked by an empty chair placed prominently on the stage for the duration of the festival.

Panahi has also been banned from carrying out his artistic work as a director, screenwriter, and film producer, from traveling abroad, and even from speaking to the media for an unimaginable period of twenty years. Panahi was convicted by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran for having exercised his right to peaceful freedom of expression through his filmmaking and political activism. He was charged with making a film deemed to be against the government, and for his alleged involvement in inciting protests following last year’s presidential election.

The right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Iranian government is party to and is obliged to uphold.

Actress Nazanin Boniadi has been a spokesperson for AIUSA since 2009 and was involved in the campaign to free Roxana Saberi. She also collaborated on The Neda Project, which commemorated the first anniversary of the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan in the streets of Tehran by a government agent in June 2009, and has been involved in supporting women’s rights on a global scale by endorsing and raising awareness on the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA).

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers who campaign for universal human rights from more than 150 countries. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

24 Comments

David • on Dec 27, 2010 1:08 pm

I can’t stand BS like this. As if the dictatorial government of Iran even knows who Paul Haggis, Sean Penn and Harvey Weinstein are or cares what they say think. Can’t stand how people prance around in this situations as if they’re making a difference, it’s all a show. Here is one would make a difference and help these 2, take $10 million, bribe the government officials and they’ll be out tomorrow, that’s how things work in that part of the world and if you think otherwise, you’re kidding yourself. So enlist and protesting and appeal all you like and see if it actually makes any difference.

Caroline • on Dec 27, 2010 4:19 pm

Anyone gonna shed a tear for Theo Van Gogh? He was silenced by a radical Muslim in the Netherlands. With a knife in his gut, his throat cut and having been shot off of his bicycle. Anyone from Amnesty International? Haggis? Penn? Anyone? . . . . . Bueller? Bueller? . . . .

myturn • on Dec 27, 2010 4:41 pm

I’m sorry,but is it too much for an audience to just be entertained by the movies of these taleneted people instead of having, and NOT just them,but SO many celebrities bring their politics into their work???…don’t they get it???They add an element that has nothing to do with pure and simple entertainment. Whatever their politics,keep it out of the movie theater…so tired of them

amir • on Dec 28, 2010 1:48 am

when u live in a dictatorship regime, politics is all around u. like it or not , u can never get rid of it.
cinema is an art inspired from different aspects of human life, in which politics is a very powerful one ..
and besides, i think an innocent talented director in prison can use all the help he can get, dont think it would hurt anyone to just support them.

drtykash • on Dec 27, 2010 5:47 pm

This is a far more complicated and intricate ordeal than dealing with budgets, guilds, egos or all things HWood related. It’s great that people are showing support and paying tribute to a fellow artist. But in our world this extra attention is seen as disrespectful hence it hurts more than helps. Not to mention most of the people in this nation can’t even find Iran on a map! HWood is always trying to remain relevant and with the times. All things Iran is very popular to discuss and analyze nowadays. Whether it be the arts and/or politics. @David is correct the people who have jailed/sentenced Mr.Panahi/Mr.Rasoulof can give a rats ass about Penn and Haggis not to mention a guy named Weinstein! HWood diplomacy always reminds me of when Warren Beatty as Bugsy Siegel tells ppl he’s going to assassinate Benito Mussolini! Hilarious

taxPAYER • on Dec 27, 2010 6:07 pm

FINALLY. Someone to give Sean Penn the factual evidence, that his influence in politics mean exactly jack shit. Go Iran! Show this asshole what a REAL dictatorship is all about.

gobacktosleep • on Dec 28, 2010 4:21 pm

So you’d cheer for Iran over a U.S. citizen. Way to be poisoned by hatred.

tomhagen • on Dec 27, 2010 6:18 pm

Here is a novel thought…why not take the three people asked by AI to intervene and actually use their talents to make movies in their own country, employing the people who pay taxes that provide service and comfort to their lifestyle and buy movie tickets. I agree with the comments of those on board the agenda of mixing politics with celebrity entertainment as behaviour non conducive to an end. Enough already.

David • on Dec 27, 2010 6:38 pm

P.S. Anytime I hear the name of Sean Penn and Cause… it reminds me of him in New Orleans in a boat with that red cup.

Injustice should be fought. Individual voices DO make a difference
and if you think otherwise, you don’t know your history. I commend these celebrities as men and women of good will who are shining a light on this. Those with negative comments – I’m glad you
carry absolutely no weight in the world and influence no one.
The world would be a better place if more people kept alert and added their voices to right wrongs. Let’s see more of it!

Writer Boy • on Dec 28, 2010 1:37 am

I tell you what’s going to make a difference. Not a few Hollywoodites. The Iranians couldn’t care less what they think, say or do. What will make a difference is forcing American companies to stop doing business with Iran. Period. There’s tons of business going on. The Iranians will only listen to economic pressure. Not petitions. They’re just little Hitlers with turbans. If the Iranian dictators suddenly have less money to stash in their Swiss bank accounts because the kickbacks from American companies suddenly stop, they’ll listen. Unfortuately, the American companies also couldn’t care less about a couple of Iranian filmmakers. So the voice of the American people, putting pressure on their legislators to pull the plug on licensing American companies vis-a-vis Iran- that’s the ticket. And there’s a hugely bigger problem with Iran that this could solve also: their uranium enrichment directed at atomic or nuclear weapons. That’s gotta stop. and stopping the money to the dictators is the only thing which will stop it.

DJT • on Dec 28, 2010 4:22 am

“HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD”!!! You’ve got to love knuckleheads who whilst clinging to their Priusus and yapping about Global Warming dogma as we enter a new cold/mini ice age ignore Iran’s poisonous threats towards Israel as they build A-Bombs and IED’s which they ship to Iraq and Afganistan to kill and maim American soldiers and Marines as they finance international terror to keep their Islamofacist regime in power complete with shooting to death young demonstrators for freedom as they imprison and torture with gay abandon— BUT, look out if an Iranian movie director gets arrested!!!!!!!!!

conservobot • on Dec 28, 2010 4:28 am

I am conservobot, I have detected a article containing the word Sean Penn on this website. Sean Penn is a evil liberal who eats dead babies he has personally aborted and he has a big nose. It is true. Sarah Palin will be president and Glenn Beck is our Savior. Michael Moore is fat. I am conservobot.

mojo • on Dec 28, 2010 7:26 am

It’s not often that you meet someone named after Scottish cuisine.

Maybe there’s a reason for that.

Brandon • on Dec 28, 2010 9:53 am

I can sometimes be as cynical as the first commenters here, but this is truly a travesty of both politics and art.
Anyone being imprisoned for 6 years for work not yet even finished/released and banned from working in their chosen profession for 20 years outside the realm of common law deserves some support, whether it is from Sean Penn or it is from YOU.

Everyone always complains about “celebrities” mixing their politics and their fame, but no one points out that these same complainers are acutally the people responsible for conflating the work with the person.
I personally can’t stand Paul Haggis’ work, but if he gets the word out about this and could potentially aid in any way in preventing this from happening (again), I say go for it.

Dylan • on Dec 28, 2010 11:49 am

It is absolutely crazy that people are using this space to vent their animosity towards Hollywood celebrities. Jafar Panahi, a brilliant filmmaker, is imprisoned by the oppressive government of Iran, and the best you can come up with is using this as an excuse to whine about Sean Penn, and gleefully note how this will finally prove his lack of influence? Instead, why don’t you actually do something like signing this petition to Free Jafar Panahi (http://www.petitiononline.com/FJP2310/petition.html).

DJT • on Dec 29, 2010 5:49 am

FREE PANAHI……… And then what?
Do Penn,Haggis, Weinstein and the other celebrities take a stand against the brutal repression— murder, torture— against any and all in Iran who speak out against Iran’s Islamofacist regime?
NOT ONE WORD against Iran’s nuclear weapons and long range missile development!
NOT ONE WORD against Iran’s holocaust-like threats against the people of Israel!
NOT ONE WORD about Iran’s funding, training and projecting international terror— including developing and shipping IEDs into Afganistan and Iraq to kill and maim our service men and women!
NOT ONE WORD, EVER until a movie director was taken into the maw of Iranian Hell. SORRY, NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

MoshtiKhaak • on Dec 31, 2010 8:28 am

I tell you DJT, for the sake answering your questions, I know you’re angry. You’re right to be. But we (Iranian young people) are too.

“NOT ONE WORD against Iran’s nuclear weapons and long range missile development!”

No offense, but don’t you, Westerners, have piles of them? I, personally, am against producing weapons in any kind, cuz it will be someday used to kill a human being. But don’t you see the world?

“NOT ONE WORD against Iran’s holocaust-like threats against the people of Israel!”
We (Iranian young people) 100% against these threats. We have no problem with Israelis and as a matter of fact many Iranians are living inside Israel. Well, this is a matter of competition between IRAN and Israel to be the first US-Allie in the region. Don’t believe the $h.t religious conflicts between them. It’s a matter of taking the power.

NOT ONE WORD about Iran’s funding, training and projecting international terror— including developing and shipping IEDs into Afganistan and Iraq to kill and maim our service men and women!

We are totally against this, too. but we can’t do nothing about it. They have killed us too, A LOT of us. you can search Youtube. You think we’ll be glad to hear sb, an American or a local go killed or blown in to pieces in Afghanistan or Iraq? no human soul would tolerate seeing this.

NOT ONE WORD, EVER until a movie director was taken into the maw of Iranian Hell. SORRY, NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

We are against this. we hate this corrupt regime, too. this corrupt regime who is feeding on the blood of its won ppl and do savage things around the world. We are frustrated, tired and sad; more than yo can ever imagine. I, myself wake up every morning with wrath, with sadness, with frustration. You have no idea how painful it is. So don’t judge us based on this f… regime, this f… criminals inside our country.

Miffy • on Dec 28, 2010 5:52 pm

But we should just make friends with them – right, liberals? We should sign lots of petitions and make lots of left-wing movies – that’ll show ’em. Oh, and um, protests – those will work. Right, liberals?

Oh wait – there are no evil people in the world. They are just misunderstood. Right, liberals?

David • on Dec 28, 2010 10:32 pm

To Dylan and Brandon… we are not venting animosity towards Hollywood celebrities. But simply stating that none of this nonsense will make a difference or get any actual results and its just BS. This is a country who has said that Israel must be wiped off the map and they are currently holding 2 American citizens hostage… now if the US government can’t free 2 of their own citizens based on international law, what effect do you think your petition will have to save 2 Iranian citizens, (the objective is to get results and have them freed and nothing you can do will achieve that objective) even if you sent the pope to Iran, they would tell the pope to wipe their ass… so you think they care what you, Paul Haggis, Sean Penn and some cooky dude named Harvey Weinstein says.

Sadra Abdollahi • on Dec 31, 2010 6:32 am

Hope For Free Iran.

MoshtiKhaak • on Dec 31, 2010 8:10 am

I am an Iranian student living inside this country. You have no idea of how the youth inside Iran believe in separation of church and state. We are tired and sad. this f… corrupt religion-benefit regime raped, tortured and murdered lots of our young society last year. We are thirsty for freedom. we are people like you. Just one-time trip to Iran is enough for you to know how great and modern-thinking and kind our young people are. Mr. Panahi is among our heros who stood their belief and kept their support for the sake of truth. This is not the regime we want, don’t get fooled with the regime-self-organized demonstration shouting anti-West slogans. They are a bunch of paid, poor people and other military-related families. We, (Today’s Iranians) showed our courage and will last year on the streets. There was no way to do anything. There is no such a thing as press Iran. I, myself, every morning wake up with wrath and frustration and a great sadness that why our land have this situation? Why we don’t have the right to breath? I do want you no to judge our 20 million young society.

Jafar Panahi is our hero among Iranian artists inside Iran who are crying for freedom and dignity and against this corrupt regime in Iran. His family suffered a lot too. God bless him.
And we, many of the young ppl of Iran do not deserve and do not approve this F regime as our righteous political leaders and presidents. They are criminals, murderers of my brothers and sisters. They do not care about humanity and human rights.

Luft • on Dec 31, 2010 9:28 am

Panahi and Makhmalbaf are both the sort of filmmakers that George Bush and American hawks like. Bush asked for Makhmalbaf’s “Kandahar” to privately screened in the White House immediately after invading Afghanistan.
Both of them and their films are used to legitimise American military expansion.
That is not strange if Iranians condemn then for the felony of treason and treachery against their national interests. British have done it before, Americans and French have done it before. No one tolerates the enemy propaganda.

Narges • on Jan 3, 2011 8:49 pm

According to the comments I’ve read, my understanding was that most of them are the voices from Americans or Europeans who are opposed to Holly Wood policies. I don’t mind, it’s their right to criticize whatever they think is wrong. Maybe you are intellectuals who complain about the government. But be an intellectual in Iran, I will show you what it means. But I also insist the participants in this protest to carry on. I live in Iran and I can confirm that it is important for Iranian government what Holly Wood says (although they deny it).Every voice counts. Everyone who participates, you carry on.